During morning hours on 21 April, Easter Sunday, suicide bombers carried out six attacks across Sri Lanka, killing an estimated 253 people including at least 41 foreign nationals, with another 500 people injured.
Three took place at churches – St. Anthony's Shrine in Kochchikade, Kotahena; St. Sebastian's Church in Katuwapitiya, Katana; and Zion Church in Batticaloa – and three at hotels catering to Western travelers in Colombo – Shangri-La Hotel; Cinnamon Grand Hotel and the Kingsbury Hotel. Several hours later, a seventh blast occurred in the reception area of a hotel near Colombo's Dehiwala Zoological Gardens, killing two people.
Global Guardian provided ongoing intelligence and operational support to clients and corporate points-of-contact in the immediate aftermath of the attacks. All travelers in Sri Lanka were automatically notified of the incident in real-time, and several clients in Colombo who were situated near the bombing sites took shelter in local businesses and sent ‘panic’ alarms to the Global Guardian Operations Center through the company’s smartphone application tracking system. Global Guardian staff located those clients, made contact, and directed the clients to initially shelter-in-place as emergency evacuation plans were arranged to assist those travelers in relocating to their offices and hotels. Throughout the event, Global Guardian’s Operations team maintained continuous communication with each traveler and corporate point-of-contacts to ensure all those involved were apprised of the situation and fully supported.
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